Increase in Body Mass Index (BMI) Raises Heart Disease Risk

Body Mass Index (BMI) has been long recognized as a risk factor for heart disease, and Danish study data now establishes a causal contribution of BMI to heart disease risk. Borge G. Nordestgaard, from the University of Copenhagen (Denmark), and colleagues used genetic data from the Copenhagen General Population Study, the Copenhagen City Heart Study and the Copenhagen Ischemic Heart Disease Study, employing a genetic variation known to be related to BMI to measure the true causal effect between this and ischemic heart disease. In observational estimates, the researchers found that for every 4 kg increase in BMI a 26% increase in odds for developing ischemic heart disease, while causal analysis identified a 52% increase. Reporting that: “These data add evidence to support a causal link between increased [body mass index] and [ischemic heart disease] risk,” the study authors urge that: “This work has important policy implications for public health, given the continuous nature of the [body mass index and ischemic heart disease] risk association and the modifiable nature of BMI.”

Previously, a number of studies have suggested that people who are optimistic tend to enjoy better health. A team from the University of Kentucky (Kentucky, USA) has found that people with optimistic attitudes may have a stronger positive immune response. The team enrolled 124 first-year law school students, and assessed them at five times over six months. Each subject was surveyed as to their levels of optimism and injected with a substance to summon an immune response; two days later, the subjects returned to have the injection site measured...